Marijuana: A Basic Civics Primer

The subject of the legalization of marijuana has resurfaced as a major topic this week after an action by Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, and like many, I have thought to myself that the AG has more important concerns that he should be addressing.

Within seconds though, I experience a change of heart. I know, I know about the whole medical marijuana thing but I’m not talking about that. I am talking about the legalization of marijuana on a state level, the 23 other states now looking to legalization the use of pot and its effect that has been downplayed for decades and ultimately dismissed to get us where we are today.

Regardless of the arguments that marijuana is not dangerous, yada, yada, yada, I have seen the lives destroyed as the future of young potheads go up in smoke (no pun intended) because they cannot put a joint down long enough to go for a job interview.

I know, not everyone finds themselves hooked to that point, but I had the misfortune of witnessing the above instance of which I speak first hand one day during a visit with a younger cousin a little more than a decade ago.

During our visit, with pride, she informed me that “M” was finally going to get a job. She explained to me that “M” had a job interview within the next two hours. I told “M” as he prepared for his interview that I was proud that he was seeking employment and wished him well.

Well, as so-called friends often do when hoping to keep a buddy down in dumps with them, as “M” was preparing to leave, “L”, a cousin of “M” rang the bell. “M” opened the door and “L” said, “Hey man, I brought some weed I want you to try out.” “M’s” immediate response, “Man, I have to leave for a job interview.” “L” pushed back, which was hardly an effort on his part and “M” responded, “Okay, let’s go out back.”

The ONLY thing that surprised me about that whole exchange was the loving cousin showing up two minutes before “M” walked out the door to his appointment. That incident occurred 17 years ago. “M” was 23 at the time, “L” who made a huge impression on his younger cousin at the time was 30 years old. Enter 2017 and “M” has not held a job for more than three days since.

If you’re thinking, well, “M” was 23 years old, he was a grown man, he had a choice and made a bad decision, you are right but that fateful decision which became a trend since that day was always directly connected to this now 40 year old’s marijuana use.

Such instances (or similar) are replayed everyday across the United States, while millions of others are more than willing to free load on the government dole, their parents are friends so long as they don’t have to extricate themselves from the plumes of smoke around them.

It should be noted that marijuana isn’t the only drug that has “dopers” distracted and destroying their lives. There is heroin, cocaine, meth, opoids and others. There are just as many out there who are heavily invested, bureaucrats included, in keeping voters distracted and stoned which is why they’re really angry with AG Sessions right now.

The recent action by AG Sessions to reinforce the rule of law is a threat to their financial investments, donations and power.

As one listens to the arguments against the action taken by Sessions, one finds oneself curious about the stock portfolio and list of donors by those shouting the loudest, all of whom ignore the detrimental effects of marijuana use along with the fact that marijuana under federal law is illegal.

Dopers, Democrats, and even a few doper Republicans have emerged from a thick cloud of pot smoke, roused out of their munchy stupor by Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ announcement the executive branch of the federal government would actually enforce federal drug laws. The Washington Post, fellow travelers at least, reports:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Thursday made it easier for U.S. prosecutorsto enforce federal marijuana laws in states that had legalized the substance — drawing swift criticism from jurisdictions that have approved pot use and stirring confusion among entrepreneurs in the burgeoning billion-dollar industry.

Whether Sessions’s Justice Department actually busts dispensaries or others involved in state-approved pot production remains to be seen, but his decision to undo previous guidance and possibly put a federal crackdown on the table riled business people, legislators and civil liberties advocates across the country….

Not quite. AG Sessions is merely adding another brick in the restoration of the rule of law wall, a wall all but dismantled during the Obama Administration. On supposes, however, that actually indicating the will to enforce rather than selectively ignore federal law might make “it easier” to enforce such laws. That such a bold and unusual initiative might rile “civil liberties advocates,” indicates an urgent need for basic civics education. After all, if one doesn’t have the right to smoke pot whenever and wherever one wishes, what other right truly matters? How can western civilization endure without such fundamental liberties?

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